Ned’s Notes: April 29

On developed bullpen roles, Keller’s start and Hamilton’s status

Royals Manager Ned Yost met with the media before Monday night’s series opener against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Now that the Royals have 28 games under their belt, Yost said he felt as though bullpen roles were considerably more defined than earlier this season. Yost stated that it was fairly safe to say Wily Peralta would be closing games, with righty Ian Kennedy and left-hander Jake Diekman patrolling the previous innings as setup men. Ned continued on about the ‘pen with praise for the recent outings from Jake Newberry and Scott Barlow as well. He emphasized the need to get Brad Boxberger back on track, but said his last outing seemed to be a step in the right direction.

With tonight’s starting pitcher Brad Keller’s last start coming one week ago at Tampa Bay, Yost explained that executing and commanding his pitches would be keys to success in facing the same team in back-to-back starts. Keller will be pitching on an extra day of rest, a byproduct of the five-game suspension he just finished serving. Ned said the extra day was comparable to instances where there is a team off-day and a pitcher receives extra rest, so it shouldn’t effect Brad.

On outfielder Billy Hamilton, Ned stated his desire to wait until Hamilton was fully healed before inputting him back into the starting lineup because of the importance of Hamilton’s legs in his style of play. He didn’t want the speedster to have any lingering thoughts about his health clouding his instincts, but expects his return to take place in the near future.